Sacred Heart Holds Out Against Men's Basketball

The men's basketball team continued its struggles on Friday night when it fell to previously winless Sacred Heart, 75-59, in Fairfield, Conn. The loss was Columbia's fourth in five games.

The Lions (2-5) fell behind 23-6 in the opening 10 minutes but then went on a 12-2 run, initiated by a John Baumann tip-in, to cut the margin to seven. Sacred Heart responded with a nine-point push to take a 41-25 lead at halftime.

The Pioneers were able to dominate the first half offensively, shooting 53.6 percent from the field, while Columbia went only ten-for-twenty six, 38.5 percent from the floor. The Lions did a good job controlling the points in the paint, outscoring the Pioneers 18-8, but gave up too many second-chance opportunities, resulting in 10 Sacred Heart points.

Columbia looked like it was regaining momentum after the break, starting the second half on a 15-5 run and cutting the deficit to 46-40 on a Baumann layup with 14:20 remaining. The Light Blue run was keyed by the interior play of Baumann and senior forward Ben Nwachukwu, who combined for 12 of the 15 Columbia points.

After a Sacred Heart time-out, Ryon Howard hit a running layup to push the lead back to eight. The Lions proved to be resilient, cutting the lead to six points or less four different times, including at the 6:50 mark, when Mack Montgomery hit a pair of free throws to make it a 60-54 contest.

The Pioneers responded with a Luke Granato three-pointer, and four straight points by Chauncey Hardy helped push the lead back up to 13, 69-56. By that point, it was too late for the Lions, as they were unable to mount one final run.

The Lions did a much better job defensively in the second half, forcing the Pioneers to shoot only 39.3 percent from the field. But Sacred Heart was able to get to the free-throw line 12 times, which helped prevent a complete Light Blue comeback. The Lions shot somewhat better in the second half, hitting 41 percent of their shots.

A trio of players—Nwachukwu, Baumann, and Niko Scott—led Columbia in scoring. Nwachukwu scored 10 points on four-of-eight shooting, while Baumann added 16 points to go along with nine rebounds and two blocked shots. Baumann had five turnovers; as a team, Columbia finished with 20 turnovers, compared to only 11 assists, while the Pioneers took better care of the ball, finishing with 17 assists compared to 14 turnovers.

The surprise contribution came from Scott, who scored a career-high 19 points on five-of-10 shooting. Scott did most of his damage from the free-throw line, going eight-for-nine from the charity stripe.

The Lions have eight more nonconference games before they begin their Ivy campaign. If these first seven games are an anomaly, then the team that performed so well during the Ivy season last year will re-emerge for the final eight games and beyond. In order to do this, the Lions must find their shooting touch, as they are shooting only 35.4 percent from the field, and 27.9 percent from three-point range. They also must limit their turnovers, and force their opposition into tougher shots. If the Lions can work on these aspects, they can get on a roll going into the Ivy season.

The Lions are next in action on Tuesday when they travel to Wagner. Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m.